REDMAGIC 10 Air Review : Who Says You Can't Have Both Slim Design and Gaming Power?

RedMagic 10 Air breaks the stereotype of bulky gaming phones with its sleek 7.85mm Shadow Black body. Equipped with a fully unleashed Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, it scores an impressive 1.66 million points in benchmarks, outclassing its peers. The upgraded Liquid Metal 2.0 cooling system keeps “Honkai: Star Rail” running at an average 57.7 FPS, turning this device into a performance beast wrapped in an elegant suit. A 6000mAh battery, 80W fast charging, true full-screen display, and 520Hz shoulder triggers make this phone a gaming powerhouse that's just as capable for daily use — redefining the all-round flagship that’s both powerful and refined.

Gone are the flashy RGB strips and overly sharp, aggressive lines. Instead, the phone features a clean, hole-free flat display and a simple, understated rear design. The "Shadow Black" colorway in Lu Sir’s hand gives off a subtle sense of speed — a true “gentleman assassin.”

As an Air model, the RedMagic 10 Air is impressively thin and light, measuring just 7.85mm thick and 205g in weight. The body maintains a 1:1 golden weight ratio, with 2.5D micro-arc edges and a discreet camera bump. Whether held vertically for daily use or horizontally for gaming, the heavy, hand-fatiguing feel of the 10 Pro series is completely gone. In fact, it’s more comfortable than many mainstream slim phones, shattering the stereotype that gaming phones must be bulky.

Despite its light form factor, the RedMagic 10 Air is still a true gaming flagship, and its performance is the star. While it’s “only” equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it comes with full-spec LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0. In the Lu Master benchmarking app, CPU scores reached 482,702, GPU 674,290, and the total system score hit 1,662,477.

Compared to other Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones like the Neo10 or K80, its performance is 2.54% and 19.46% higher, respectively — nearing the ceiling of 8 Gen 3 performance. But beyond numbers, the actual gaming experience is even more impressive. Lu Sir tested it in Genshin Impact (Sumeru City) and Honkai: Star Rail (Golden Hour map). In Genshin, 30 minutes of gameplay on max settings was a breeze — FPS held steady around 60, variance was just 1.2 frames, power draw 5.36W, and max temp 41.1°C, making it cool to the touch.

For the more demanding Honkai map, Lu Sir expected it to struggle, as even some Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 “Ultimate” devices can’t maintain full frame rate. But the RedMagic 10 Air exceeded expectations with an average 57.7 FPS — hard to believe from a standard 8 Gen 3 phone.

This level of performance does come with higher power draw (6.61W) and max temperatures (45.6°C), but the phone impressively maintained its screen brightness after gameplay. Lu Sir was again blown away by the gaming prowess.

The secret behind this performance is RedMagic’s CUBE Performance Scheduling Engine, which intelligently allocates CPU/GPU resources based on gameplay — full power when needed, energy-saving when not. It truly embodies the “flexible and powerful” philosophy.

Of course, without good cooling, a great scheduler is wasted. Notably, the RedMagic 10 Air doesn’t have a cooling fan, but instead uses the upgraded Liquid Metal 2.0 system (previously seen on the 10 Pro series). PC gamers might recognize liquid metal for its exceptional thermal conductivity, far beyond traditional thermal paste or phase-change materials.

This second-gen system uses a sandwich structure: two layers of low-temp alloy with an indium core. It passed 1200-hour high-temp tests at 90°C, and its semi-solid surface prevents leakage and corrosion. There’s also the Red Core R3 chip onboard for advanced features like AI upscaling and frame interpolation. It also learns your usage habits to intelligently adjust haptics, lighting, sound effects, and more — like a personal gaming assistant.

Despite its slim body, the RedMagic 10 Air packs a 6000mAh battery. In a 3-hour usage test, it still had 82% remaining, easily lasting a full day. The 80W fast charging is practical, and the standout “bypass charging” feature lets you power the phone directly while gaming — protecting battery life and reducing heat.

The true full-screen display — with no punch holes — is a long-standing RedMagic signature. It’s a 6.8-inch flat display with 1.48mm ultra-thin bezels. No black dot at the top means immersive visuals for gaming, videos, and scrolling. For responsiveness, it offers a 960Hz global and 2000Hz instant touch sampling rate — silky-smooth like a wet bar of soap.

It also features several “gaming cheat codes.” The two 520Hz shoulder triggers are large and responsive, with anti-sweat detection. In League of Legends: Wild Rift, for example, you can assign one to monitor the Dragon Pit. In FPS games, your thumbs can handle movement and aiming while your index fingers use the triggers to shoot and scope — giving you a tactical edge.

Lastly, the REDMAGIC OS 10.0 system now outranks many mainstream UIs in smoothness. According to Lu Master’s Q1 report, it’s ranked #4 in fluidity. A quick test using the Lu Master app showed a score above 220. And for anime lovers, the "Magi Assistant" is still here — chat with her when you’re bored, get clapbacks for toxic players, search for movies or guides, and now with DeepSeek AI integration, her responses are more lifelike than ever — your digital anime bestie.

In the end, RedMagic 10 Air’s ambition is clear: to be a versatile gaming smartphone. It retains essentials like shoulder triggers, cooling, and high performance, while shedding the impractical bulk. If you’re looking for a phone that offers top-tier performance, a refined look, and reliable daily usability, RedMagic 10 Air is close to the ideal answer.